Last night, Dane was transferred to the other NICU. It leaves a lot to be desired, comparatively, as it's one room, with three babies and 1 nurse. Not much privacy for breast feeding and pumping, which is kind of hard, especially since we're working on getting Dane to eat by mouth for every meal in order for him to come home. While this new NICU lacks privacy, it makes up for that somewhat by being much quieter than the main NICU. (Fewer crying babies and their beeping monitors in addition to no construction going on...) They call it the "step-down" NICU, which we're taking as a sign that he's getting close to being self-sufficient enough to leave. So, that's exciting!
He's also continuing to gain weight and length, at 1880 grams (4.136 lbs) and 42.5 cm (16.73 inches). We spoke to one of the doctors today, Loughead (pronounced Lawhead, not Lughead, as Mark believes), and he said that...he doesn't hear the murmur anymore! This is such great news - they hadn't given us any indication that there was a good chance it would close on its own, but apparently, that was a possibility all along. They'll do a follow-up echo tomorrow or Wednesday this week and so we're praying that it will either have shrunk again or closed completely. We appreciate all of your prayers throughout this process, too.
We also had our first really unhappy baby event this evening, while trying to breast feed again. Dane would not stop crying after being changed, being fed and being held... it was so hard for me not to know what to do to help him! Fortunately, the nurse was really nice about it and brought me a Kleenex. We then realized that he was so unhappy because he was busy...making the largest mess we've seen in a diaper so far. No wonder he was feeling bad! I need to start working on not getting completely freaked out when I can't get him to stop crying... I have a feeling this wasn't a one-time event! We have already started learning that he isn't as breakable as he looks (he's so small!) but we need to continue to learn that we might not be able to always "fix" him immediately. It's a process, right?
Monday, April 13, 2009
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sorry you guys had to worry over Dane crying... lauren says i worry too much too about Caleb too. i guess it's a natural part of being an awesome parent...you care about your kids and want the best for them.
ReplyDeletei also wanted to share that we have had similar experiences recently. just last week, caleb was with his grandma and when he awoke from his nap he cried inconsolably for 10 minutes until he did his thing (which by the way blew out the diaper!). the second he was done, a huge grin appeared on his face.
we are excited to hear that Dane is doing so well. i have all 75 of my 8th graders praying every day for all of you. talk to you all later
oh yeah, it is SO a process. trial and error...and sometimes, sister....sometimes they just need to cry for a minute (or 20) and all you can do is love them and cuddle them and wait for it to be over. as for the crying due to a huge poo on its way, that too passes as they get bigger, but for awhile its no fun as you experienced - we learned that bicycling petey's legs helps work out what he's workin on gettin out and makes him feel better in the process = way less crying. hang in there. your baby is one lucky dude, but i totally feel you on it breaking your heart when you can't fix the crying!
ReplyDelete-Sarah Nannen (one new mom to another)
Ahh, the little adventures of new parenting...I remember them well :). Like Sarah said above, sometimes babies just need to cry it out. It's just their way of saying, "Mommy, I am just grumpy right now...please snuggle me". I am so thankful to hear Dane is gaining weight and improving so much every day...God is certainly shining His face upon your little fellow :).
ReplyDeleteGood job to the nurse to give you a Kleenex rather than try to just fix it for you. So often there isn't a fix-all solution, which is so frustrating! We've had many of these nights (1-2 hours of fussing/crying straight!) so I completely empathize with you. There is just something inside a mom that makes her fall into pieces when her tiny baby is crying...love is a beautiful thing! And, it gets a bit easier to hear them cry the older they get...I promise!
ReplyDeleteI remember the days that Alex would just cry and cry and cry and I would ask Kent, "Well, what's wrong? What does he want?" It would frustrate me to no end not to be able to help him. That's when I realized that a lot of the times he just needed to cry and let it out. :)
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